


An Exploration In Fusing Bodies

by carrionkid



Category: Marvel (Comics), New Mutants, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: M/M, soulmerge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:09:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrionkid/pseuds/carrionkid
Summary: this is my first ever douglock thing, i worked on it back in march but FINALLY cleaned it up enough to post. hopefully i did a good job of getting their characters down. anyway the soulmerge is really interesting and i wanted to play with it. shoutout to mo (moreroads on tumblr) for getting me to care about these characters! this one goes out to you! hopefully i did your faves justice :D--“Look,” Doug says, “We have to do it one more time, for science.”Warlock melts down onto his bed, two bright eyes peering up from a splash of circuitry on the duvet, “Selfsoulfriend, it is dangerous! Self explained! And selfriendchiefdanimirage said self cannot soulmerge with selfsoulfriend unless it is entirely necessary!”Doug, of all people, knows best that some words carry very specific meanings, but he files away the termsoulmergefor another bout of investigation.





	An Exploration In Fusing Bodies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wixom (SunlitDarkness)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunlitDarkness/gifts).



“Look,” Doug says, “We have to do it one more time, for science.”

Warlock melts down onto his bed, two bright eyes peering up from a splash of circuitry on the duvet, “Selfsoulfriend, it is dangerous! Self explained! And selfriendchiefdanimirage said self cannot soulmerge with selfsoulfriend unless it is entirely necessary!”

Doug, of all people, knows best that some words carry very specific meanings, but he files away the term  _ soulmerge _ for another bout of investigation. Instead, he holds out his hand, palm parallel to the discorporated puddle of Warlock, who pulls himself together enough to meet Doug’s hand.

“All those other times it was too dangerous to actually take notes, but this is basically the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me and I want to understand it.”

“Selfsoulfriendoug will be careful?”

“Completely and absolutely careful.”

Apparently that’s a good enough answer for Warlock because their hands mix together, melded into something half-flesh, half-circuit. A mix of a shock from built up static and the pins and needles that come with your hand falling asleep, his hand feels like a stranger to his body. Doug raises his arm, an action mirrored by Warlock until their arms are completely entangled. 

“This is--”

“--Incredible.” 

His voice swaps over to ‘Lock’s body unintentionally, but it’s their body, each form an extension of them both, curled together. A chill runs up his spine as Warlock slips all the way into his arm, twisting up over his skin until he doesn’t feel like this body is his at all, but somehow it still feels like a home. The feeling of home doesn’t last long. He stretches his fingers out, looking down at his hands, lined with bits of black that he could understand if he took the time. Nothing moves  _ right.  _ He feels constrained and trapped, held hostage by a faulty form, so he starts a diagnostics check.

Wait.

Since when can he run diagnostics checks?

The thought fades, soothed by an outside-inside force, and he wanders because he can. He is free, loose, not locked in a human shaped space, and he turns back to see--

\--self in selfsoulfriendoug’s body. There is so much of selfsoulfriend, so many words, so many memories, and self copies all to self’s memorystorage to keep safe forever and ever. Selfriend’s body is so limited, selfriend has many words but appears to be unable to voice them. When soulmerged, self feels everything, even the wonderful nameless sensation that fills every place self can reach. Self languishes in love, looped around the warm light of selfriend’s lifeglow. 

“Query: you okay, ‘Lock?”

Self looks down to see self has wrapped arms around selfriend’s shared body. Black and yellow circuitry covers self’s flesh as selfriend repeats the action.

“I am fine, selfsoulfriendoug loves me.”

Their face flushes, not quite Doug, not quite Warlock, but a body in tandem. They’re aware they’re covered in circuitry but there’s still enough of Doug’s flesh that they can blush. Interesting. There’s still a line between Doug and Warlock, one that Warlock already knows how to cross. Maybe it’s innate, they are a strange soulmerge, one human, one Technarch. Doug pushes back, copying the way Warlock feels as he meets the boundary. 

He finds fear, running, fleeing, lifeender, newhome, newworld, danger, danger, danger, imminent danger. 

Flashes of pictures without commentary, fragments of data he could rewind and pick apart until he understands everything, but they’re shaking. 

“Selfsoulfriendwarlock…” 

They don’t need an answer. Doug is part of Warlock is part of Doug, nestled inside each other ad infinitum, something more than a whole. Not two halves put together but a tangled conglomeration of threads of being. Doug focuses on something happy, gently nudging at the boundary of Warlock.

Self yields, boundary dissolving. Self is worried about the soulmerge, selfsoulfriend is not. The feelings mix together like self and selfsoulfriend’s body. Self’s worry lessens, warmth of selfsoulfriend’s lifeglow and memories quiets warningprotocols.

“Query: is self okay?”

“We are okay.”

Self and selfsoulfriendwarlock are one, memories merged together in a way that feels right. Self is not used to this language, the world is built of code through the eyes of selfsoulmergedouglock. It is perfect, ultimate order. Selfsoulmergedouglock knows how everything works, how all the perceived chaos is not chaos at all.

Selfsoulmergedouglock feels safe, feels whole. Self was whole before but is more whole now when soulmerged. They are not two, they are one, perfect and complete, save and loved. Self would like to stay, more home than the mansion or the team. Selfsoulfriendoug agrees, self knows, self  _ feels. _

They are thinking in tandem, moving in tandem, living in tandem. It is terrifying and terrific. The risks still nudge at the back of their mind. Self does not want to split from Warlock, wants to remain selfsoulmergedouglock forever and ever, but they must split before the rest of the team notices, before something goes wrong. This was meant to be academic, but it hasn’t been easy to take notes.

Warlock feels Doug slipping away, knows that this is something necessary. There will be more time for them to soulmerge. Warlock will pull back soon, even though it will not be enjoyable.

“Self--”

“--soul--”

“--friend--”

“--doug--”

“--lock--”

Self’s voice flips from consciousness to consciousness, 

They are pulling apart but still tangled together.

“I--Self--”

“--love--loves--”

“--you.”


End file.
